Rare giraffe birth to happen at Greenwich conservation center

David Hennessey

Published 11:33 pm, Friday, March 15, 2013

Lauren Hinson, a zookeeper at the LEO Zoological Conservation Center in Greenwich, gives Petal, a Rothschild giraffe, a carrot at the center Tuesday, March 12, 2013. Petal, an endangered animal and one of fewer than 700 such giraffes in the world, is pregnant and could give birth at any time from mid-March to mid-April.
Photo: Helen Neafsey

Petal, an endangered Rothschild giraffe, at the LEO Zoological Conservation Center in Greenwich, Conn., Tuesday, March 12, 2013. Petal, one of fewer than 700 such giraffes in the world, is pregnant and could give birth at any time from mid-March to mid-April.
Photo: Helen Neafsey

Petal, an endangered Rothschild giraffe, at the LEO Zoological Conservation Center in Greenwich, Conn., Tuesday, March 12, 2013. Petal, one of fewer than 700 such giraffes in the world, is pregnant and could give birth at any time from mid-March to mid-April.
Photo: Helen Neafsey

Petal, an endangered Rothschild giraffe, at the LEO Zoological Conservation Center in Greenwich, Conn., Tuesday, March 12, 2013. Petal, one of fewer than 700 such giraffes in the world, is pregnant and could give birth at any time from mid-March to mid-April.
Photo: Helen Neafsey

Petal, an endangered Rothschild giraffe, at the LEO Zoological Conservation Center in Greenwich, Conn., Tuesday, March 12, 2013. Petal, one of fewer than 700 such giraffes in the world, is pregnant and could give birth at any time from mid-March to mid-April.
Photo: Helen Neafsey

Petal, an endangered Rothschild giraffe, at the LEO Zoological Conservation Center in Greenwich, Conn., Tuesday, March 12, 2013. Petal, one of fewer than 700 such giraffes in the world, is pregnant and could give birth at any time from mid-March to mid-April.
Photo: Helen Neafsey

More Information

• Fewer than 670 exist in the wild• Classified as endangered in 2010• Average gestation period of 15 months• Can grow up to 20 feet tall• Most wild Rothschilds limited to Uganda and Kenya

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Standing at more than 17 feet from her hooves to her head, Petal is probably the tallest mother-to-be in Connecticut.

A Rothschild giraffe now living at the LEO Zoological Conservation Center in Greenwich, Petal, who is about 6 years old, will give birth sometime in the next month, according to conservation center officials.

"This giraffe will be the first to calf at our conservation center," said center founder and director Marcella Leone. "It's a huge deal, especially because there are so few of them in the world."

First named and described by Lord Walter Rothschild, a British zoologist, following an expedition to East Africa in the early 1900s, Rothschild giraffes are now endangered.

Fewer than 670 of them exist in the wild. Their numbers have become dangerously low in parts of East Africa, including Kenya and Uganda.

The conservation center, which is not a zoo, but an off-exhibit breeding place and safe haven for animals, has five giraffes -- three females, all of which are pregnant, and two males. Two of the animals are Rothschilds, and the other three are reticulated giraffes.

"We have the only giraffes in the state," Leone said. "We're the only giraffe breeding program (in the state)."

Petal has reached the 14½-month point in her gestation period when birth is likely, said Leone, who explained that the normal gestation period for a giraffe is anywhere between 14½ and 15½ months.

The center is generating interest around the momentous occasion by hosting a contest on its website (www.leozoo.org), in which contestants guess the date and time of the birth. The winner will be able to visit with the newborn giraffe.

"The offspring will definitely be with us for the first year, if not indefinitely," Leone said of Petal's baby, which will nurse for about nine months.

The other two pregnant giraffes will give birth this year, she said. A barn and a huge indoor paddock with room for them to gallop provide shelter during the winter.

"We have an ideal off-exhibit breeding situation for these animals," explained Leone, who said the center is expecting another female giraffe from the Bronx Zoo in early April.

Don Goff, deputy director of the Beardsley Zoo, said it's a bit of a mystery as to whether a giraffe has ever given birth in Connecticut.

If that unusual event has ever occurred, "I'm pretty sure it's been a really, really long time," Goff said.

"I don't believe we've ever had giraffes here in the history of the zoo," he added.

The Beardsley Zoo is the only public zoo in the state, and most of its exhibits revolve around North American, South American, and Asian species, Goff said.

Goff added that though the zoo's relationship with the conservation center is relatively new, officials from both locations have already shared ideas about conservation efforts.

With the vision of increasing the number of at-risk animals saved throughout the world, the LEO Zoological Conservation Center, which is supported by the nonprofit Lionshare Educational Organization, is situated on 100 acres of land in Greenwich and Stamford.

African crested porcupines, cheetahs, dusky titi monkeys, giant anteaters, orangutans and warthogs are just some of the animals that call the center home.

The center breeds animals for zoos around the world and provides large, natural habitats in a low-impact atmosphere. It also cultivates future conservationists and animal professionals with its for-credit internship programs geared toward university students. There is a zoo school for members, ages 6 to 12, and a zoo teen program for members, ages 13 to 18. The center also saves animals whenever possible, providing interim care and permanent placement either at the center or another appropriate facility.

The center maintains a formal relationship with Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, and has an animal ambassadors program, an outreach initiative that educates people through visits with the animals.